William Golding’s famous dystopian novel Lord of the Flies talks about an adventurous story of a group of British teenage boys who had fallen off a plane during World War II being stranded on an uninhabited island. On the island, they formed a civilization with an elected leader: Ralph, and a hunter: Jack. Everything went well primarily with Ralph possessing a conch that calls on constant assemblies. However, as time elapsed, conflicts emerged, causing the boys to separate into two divisions who fight brutally with violence against each other, creating a conflict between civilization and savagery. After multiple chaotic fights, all of the boys lose their humanity, turning into bullies and evil individuals when they murdered two group members and the head of a pig. The novel ends with a naval officer from a ship rescuing the stranded boys where they burst into tears because of their loss of innocence.
The concept of idealism, or illusion is always opposed to realism, which is the practice of the unfiltered, true, practical world. Usually, idealistic worldview tends to be comparatively persuasive than naturalism, since it pursues inspiring innovations. However, valuing realism enables individuals to achieve their ultimate goal, in other words, it’s a long-term benefit. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack withhold their leadership in different ways. Jack stands on being idealistic by offering food, hunting, and safety to the boys where Ralph leads everyone to build the signal fire and wait for rescue. Apparently, Jack’s tribe dominates more perceivable interesting activities than the uncertain status of Ralph’s gang. This is the reason for Ralph's failure of leadership and the entire collapse of the downfallen group. In reality, we should always be aware to focus on lengthwise decisive strategies rather than being hooked by immediate short-term benefits. These seeming advantages may transform into a catastrophe when people start to neglect their essential demand.
Civilization versus barbarism summarizes the main conflict which leads to the plot of Lord of the Flies. The two opposing concepts may cause existential problems to alleviate or worsen to savagery depending on the leading teams. Being civilized mentally may have the potential to assert knowledgeable ideas, but in order to earn everyone’s assent, possessing critical thinking is not enough. In the story, Ralph’s team is the civilized one; his two devoted followers: Simon and Piggy, are two mentally-developed boys with the most experience. Leader Ralph creates laws, regulations, and rules of self-control attempting to oppress savagery from happening. However, especially for Piggy, due to their physical disabilities, the majority joins Jack’s team and the two civilized ones are killed by the end. Specially, Jack uses the method of togetherness and equality to ensure his members that no one is to blame. This enables him to continue to expand his territory and develop every member’s bravery. Unlike Jack who is strong, tough, and aggressive, Ralph seems to lack the feeling of protection. Though savagery is definitely immoral, it is also essential for a team to feel a strong sense of belonging. On the other hand, civilization fails to impact barbarism, since the world is always double-sided with goodness and evilness.
Whenever civilizations get established, there would be the inevitable inner evilness in which people find themselves manipulated by evilness. Savagery is human nature and inner evilness perfectly depicts the destructive force of savagery that lies within every human being. No matter how people try to oppress their evilness, it still remains as a “beast” deep inside their hearts. In Lord of the Flies, violence is shown when Jack and his hunting tribe tries to kill a helpless mother pig who is feeding her babies. This killing is not for food, but acts as a celebratory ceremony, revealing the darkness of human nature. Jack’s tribe uses war, military uniform, as well as face make-up to hide their fear of the “beast”, not referring to the physical dead pig’s head, but the inner evilness within themselves. They worship the beast because of fear and they attempt to destroy it. More toward the end of the novel their fears of shamefulness, self-esteem, boundaries of civilization, and exposure of weakness aggravates, leading toward the disastrous collapse depicted in the conclusion. The quote of the Lord of the Flies: “I’m part of you” indicates that the beast is part of everyone.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel laced with numerous symbolism and enlightening themes that we experience in daily life. The novel is a story that illustrates the downfall of a civilization between boys stranded on an inhabited island. Though at last the majority is saved by a naval officer, their loss of their original innocence made them burst into tears. The beast represents the inner evilness of savagery within everyone while Ralph and Jack symbolizes two opposing concepts: civilization versus barbarism and realism versus idealism. There are lots of violence, deaths, chaotic turbulences, and natural disasters involved during the construction of the civilization. All concepts reveal the darkness of humanity exposed gradually as the interior fear plays as an inevitable burden. The fire that Ralph attempts to maintain both symbolizes life and death, and the extinguishing fire represents the complete destruction in the end.
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